my sharona

Photo Challenge Day Seven: Something New

2011-11-15T14:04:00.001-07:00

My girls have a new obsession with the Disney Princesses. Their babysitter, Melissa, generously gave our family Disney On Ice tickets last week for an early Christmas present. And as part of the present, I got these little Disney Princess toys for them.

For a week straight now, these are the only toys they have played with. They spend hours undressing and dresing them, building block castles for them and making up stories. I LOVE how much they love them, because I grew up being obsessed with Ariel, Jasmine and Belle. So going to Disney On Ice and watching all the movies is just as much of a treat for me!

Shhhh.....

2011-11-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

We are just going to pretend that I didn't skip a month in the middle of my photo challenge. So.... move along and we'll just act like nothing happened.

Photo Challenge Day Six: Childhood Memory

2011-10-03T14:24:00.000-06:00

I had about five or six Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins while I was growing up. Plus, I got to play with my sisters' Care Bears since I was the youngest. But my favorite by far was always Funshine Bear! It was the first one that I got when I was one or two years old and it was always super special to me. I have kept my original Funshine Bear in a safe place with a few other childhood items so that I can show my kids when they are old enough to appreciate it.

I LOVE that my girls are into Care Bears now. I wish they watched the original 80's movies and episodes, since the new ones just aren't the same. They are still cute, but don't have Dark Heart, Cold Heart or Beastly. And I will never forgive the producers of the new show for changing Funshine into a boy! What the transgender Care Bear? I was so mad when I saw that! Funshine is a girl! And her boyfriend was Brave Heart Lion! Don't they know this?! Couldn't they read my four-year-old mind?

Here is a pic of me with my cute Funshine Bear. I think I was two or three years old. I still have the blanket that my Mom made, too! Love it!

I wanna be a Care Bear!
Oh - it will be so great to when I'm a Care Bear!
Oh - I can hardly wait to be a Care Bear!
And do the things Care Bears do.
Oh -I wanna be a Care Bear Like you!
You do?

I'll be like Funshine and make the sunshine

And have heart like Love-a-Lot.
I'll be like Wish Bear and always be there.
We'll be the luckiest bears in Care-a-Lot.
I wanna be a Care Bear
And fill the world with love
To be a Care Bear is what I'm dreaming of.
We'll make a great pair
We'll stick together through and through Like glue.
I don't wanna be a cook or a fireman.
And I don't wanna play trombone in the marching band.
I just wanna be a Care Bear like you!!
I just wanna be a Care Bear!

Photo Challenge Day Five: Someone I Love

2011-10-02T13:55:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. Super original and creative that I picked my kids for the "Someone I Love" challenge. But come on now... can you really blame me? At least this one is black & white for a change. :)

Photo Challenge Day Four: Favorite Color

2011-10-01T13:53:00.000-06:00

Green has been my favorite color for a long, long time. As you can tell from my desktop wallpaper. (And I know you are super jealous of my dual-screen awesomeness. You should be, cause its awesome.)

Photo Challenge Day Three: Clouds

2011-09-30T20:26:00.000-06:00

I was a little worried earlier in the day, because there wasn't a cloud in sight until mid-afternoon! But some huge clouds started rolling in and so I took the girls for a drive until I found a good spot.

One thing I have learned about landscape photography: I hate power lines and it is very difficult to escape them!

Photo Challenge Day Two: What I Wore

2011-09-29T17:35:00.000-06:00

Let's see.... the subject today is "What I Wore." Here was my thought process.

A photo of the clothes I'm wearing today? Not likely.

A photo of something I've worn in the past? Meh.

A photo of something I wear every day? Like... my glasses? Sure!

A photo of me wearing my glasses? No thanks.

A photo of my cutie Katie wearing my glasses? Yes please!

Glasses purchased at www.spectrum-eyecare.com. I'm noticing a trend here. Its almost like I'm related to my eye doctor or something.

Thursday Thirteen #19 - Six Years With James

2011-09-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

Thirteen Reasons I'm Glad I Picked James

Last week was our sixth wedding anniversary and so I'm dedicating this week's Thursday Thirteen to my hubby. Here are thirteen reasons that I'm so glad I picked James to by my hubby.

1. He makes me laugh. Every single day. Friends and family of mine ask me all the time if I am laughing all day every day with him. After six years of marriage, maybe everything he does isn't hilarious. Especially since this one doesn't seem to come with an off button. But I do laugh every day!

2. He is lovey-dovey. I have never been a super affectionate person. I guess I am in some ways, but not in others. But James is in every way. He tells me that he loves me at least ten times a day. And he gets my attention if I don't say it back right away.

3. He is the best father for my kids. Anyone who knows our family would probably agree with me. James is in a league of his own when it comes to raising kids. He has a natural parenting instinct that I never realized was there until Katie was born. And I am amazed by it every single day.

4. He is quick to forgive. This is the understatement of the year. James is THE most forgiving person that I've ever known. We have never once had an argument that has lasted for more than five minutes. Ever. Even if I refuse to back down, he will always come to me first and apologize and try to fix whatever it is that I'm upset about. He is always willing to put aside his pride and forgive me first.

5. He is a nerd. I never realized how much of a nerd I was until I married James. But he definitely brings out my inner-nerd. Who knew that I would happily stay up until 3:00 am on a weeknight to play video games with my husband? But we have so much fun doing it!

6. His laugh makes everyone else laugh. He has a contagious laugh that many people comment on to me. Its hard not to join in when James is around!

7. He is patient. James puts up with a LOT with that emotional, overbearing wife of his, but he never makes me feel like its hard for him to be with me. Even on days when he has had a hard day at work and comes home to a messy house and loud kids, he is still patient with all of us and does way more than his share.

8. He loves to learn. He is always reading, listening to books, or studying things. He is focused on getting better at the goals he has set at work. But he always enjoys reading for fun. I love that about him.

9. He has real relationships the other kids in his life. Since we got married, we've had my nephews, Skyler and Trevor, over a lot. They spend a lot of summers and weekends at our house. And he has never complained. In fact, he has expressed how much he enjoys having them around and misses them when they are gone. They think he is the best thing since sliced bread, because he is hilarious and plays video games all night long. But he has a real bond with them.

10. He talks in his sleep. Yes, he still does. I'm sure he does it way more than I realize, because I've learned to tune it out when I'm sleeping. But he is hilarious, even in his sleep! (Example: "Sharon... why do they make you dress like Ben Stiller?")

11. He loves to travel. I get really overwhelmed with even the thought of traveling with kids. But that doesn't stop him for a second. He wants to see everything and always wants our girls to experience as much as possible. Its a good thing, cause I'm not sure we would ever go anywhere if it were only up to me!

12. He is romantic. He has asked me to marry him seven times now. He says that because his first proposal was so lame, he has to make it up to me every year. So on the anniversary of the day he proposed, he always remembers and always gets me a new ring and flowers!

13. He is perfect for me. Its not that I believe in soul-mates or anything like that. Because I believe that any two righteous people could make a marriage work. But I think that James is so good for me in so many ways. He has changed me for the better. And he makes me happy every single day! I have spent every day of the past six years thanking Heavenly Father for bringing James into my life. Who knew that the funny kid from orchestra class would turn out to be my perfect guy?

Love you, James! Happy Anniversary!

30 Day Photo Challenge - Day One

2011-09-28T17:14:00.000-06:00

I've set a few goals for myself for the next month.

1) Lose weight.

2) Catch up on at least 30 blog entries.

3) Take more pictures and practice my photography skills.

I saw this photo challenge on James' cousin's blog and thought it would be fun to do. I want to be as creative as possible with the pictures (except for today... obviously) and then try to post one every single day. Then maybe I'll convince myself to post one or two catch-up blog posts while I'm at it.

And I'm hoping that I'll lose a few pounds in the process, since I'll be getting up off my arse once in a while for a change.

Come on! Do it with me!

Day One is a self-portrait. Snore. Once I lose a couple of these chins, I'll put more effort into a self-portrait. But since I was sitting in my car when I decided to participate in the challenge, I grabbed my camera right then and took one pic. But it was plain and boring, so I added a Cross-Process on Flickr. And some text. Here it is.

Prescription Sunglasses purchased at www.spectrum-eyecare.com. :)

Fun at the Park

2011-09-21T16:47:00.000-06:00

My sister, Alison, discovered this amazing park in Lehi. Its just off of the 2100 North exit. You can see it from the exit ramp, but its a little hard to get to. I'm SO glad she told us about it, because it is our new favorite park. So much for the girls to do!

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-30T15:02:00.000-06:00

My baby isn't a baby anymore! I can't believe Katie started Kindergarten this year. She just turned five years old in July, so she seems WAY too young to be going off to school all by herself. (I think she agrees with me on some days.) But on the first day, she was super excited to go! She picked out her new outfit herself at Target. (The leggings a size smaller than I normally get... and they were still loose on her tiny legs.) She picked out her "Hello Kitty" backpack. She counted down for days and woke up super early on the first morning. LOL! So funny!

Look how little she is! The kids in her class are little, but they still have a few inches on Katie! Cute little girl! Way to go, Katie!

The Past Four Months

2011-07-10T00:02:00.005-06:00

Every time I have opened my blog to start back up with the updates, I see what the date was of my last blog entry. And it never fails to stop me in my tracks. And here's why.

My last blog entry was on March 18th. Back on March 18th, I was completely oblivious to what was coming in the next 24 hours. I had no idea that my world was about to be tossed upside down. I had no idea that the things I was writing about in my March 18th blog post would become shelved in the back of my mind for the next few weeks. Its kind of spooky when you think about it.

I woke up on Saturday, March 19th with a day full of fun things ahead of me. My mom's sister, Ros, and niece, Kathryn, had arrived from England just the night before. This visit to the States was the first in decades for my aunt. And the first altogether for my cousin. And my Saturday was going to be spent visiting with them! What a fun day! They came to my house to meet James and the girls before we headed to BYU for an amazing production by the BYU Young Ambassadors. We finished off the afternoon with an early dinner at Zupa's and they dropped me off at home before going to visit some more family. When I got home, I was immediately back in "Mom" mode, hurrying to get the girls some dinner and ready for bed. I did take a minute to watch some of the BYU basketball game. I am not a huge sports fan, but I couldn't help but get caught up in "Jimmermania."

At about 8:00 pm, I got a call from my brother, Ryan. Not completely unheard of, but unusual. He asked me where our Mom was. I told him that she had dropped me off and was heading to visit Diane and Alison before going back to Grantsville, so she wouldn't be home for another hour or so. Then he asked me if Dad enjoyed the concert that we went to and that he was surprised that he went.

Ummmm... hold on there. Dad didn't go with us. I told him just that and there was silence on the other end. He finally said, "Dad didn't go down south with Mom today?" My reply was, "Nope. I thought he watched the BYU game at your house today." But Ryan explained to me that he had called the house a few times to see when Dad was going to his house, but when no one answered, he assumed Dad had gone with Mom. We sat confused for a little bit, but then I told him that I would call our sister, Karen, to see if she knew where he was. They spent a lot of time together, so it was the next logical guess.

I called Karen. She was at Wal-mart. I asked if she knew where Dad was. "He's at Ryan's watching the BYU game with Jim and my boys." When I told her that I had just gotten off the phone with Ryan and he hadn't been there at all today, she fell silent. We agreed that he must have gone to a movie or something. He hadn't done that for years and it was highly unlikely that he would go during a game, but you never know with our Dad! She said she would track him down and let me know.

I was quickly sucked back into my Mommy duties and got ready for bed myself. I was sitting in bed, watching TV, when at 10:15 pm, I got a text from Alison.

"I'm on my way to get you."

I sat there for a minute, thinking that I had forgotten some late night movie plans or something. But I couldn't remember anything. So I asked her why.

"Dad had a heart attack."

Stunned. Shocked. Devastated. I sat there and stared at the phone for a full minute before calling her to ask what she knew. She said that Karen had found Dad on the floor his basement den and they took an ambulance to the Tooele hospital. I called James, who had just left to get a soda with his brother. Through my frantic sobs, I explained that he needed to come home immediately. While I waited, I called Diane, who also lives in Lehi. I told her what happened and told her we were coming to get her in ten minutes.

James got home. I waited for Alison to pull up and couldn't do anything except pace the room and cry. Without me even noticing, he packed an overnight bag for me, including a laptop. What an amazing husband I have!

My sisters and I were rushing to get to the Tooele hospital, when we got a call that Dad had been taken by ambulance to the U of U hospital. And that he hadn't had a heart attack. He had had a stroke. I'm not sure if this made me feel worse or better. We still didn't know much. The only thing we did know is that Dad had been alone in his room for several hours, waiting for help. It was no one's fault. No one could have possibly known. But it still turns my stomach to think of him there.

Long story short, my mom and seven of our eight siblings (Steve was in California) waited at the hospital while he was evaluated in the ER and then transferred to the NCCU. They had to heavily sedate him and put a breathing tube down his throat, so we couldn't do anything but wait. At about 3:00 am, I finally told my family to go home and try to rest some, since I was the only one that had an overnight bag. I took the first shift at the hospital. The only thing I clearly remember right now is that I didn't sit down more than once for the next nine hours. I just stood by my Dad's bed and held his hand. From this point on, my Dad's story can be read on his blog.

So where are we now? After weeks in the hospital and weeks in rehab, my dad is home. He still has years of recovery ahead of him. I (along with most of my siblings) have spent countless hours/days/weeks/months doing whatever we can to help him and my Mom through this. At this point, I usually take my girls with my to Grantsville for a day or two every week. Sometimes its to help with his care. Sometimes its to keep my parents company. Sometimes its because I just don't want to be so far away.

I've learned a lot during the past few months. A lot about myself and a lot about my family. There have been some good things to come out of this whole thing. Right now they seem minor and insignificant in comparison to the bad things. But they are there. And I think they will be the things to get us through.

I am planning on catching up on my blog now. I have four months of stories and pictures to blog about. Not to mention the dozens of blog posts still missing from last year. But before I could start with those things, I needed to get this one done. One step at a time.

Janet & Joe's Wedding

2011-04-17T16:22:00.000-06:00

James' sister, Janet, got married on April 10th, 2011. Such an amazing day! We are so thrilled that Joe is the one that she ended up with. He will be an wonderful husband and father! And it was so much fun to see how happy and in love they were throughout the wedding. I have known Janet for many years now and I have never seen her this happy. In fact, I had to learn very quickly how to take pictures while sobbing uncontrollably. LOL!

I think the four flower girls (Katie, Adele, Rhoda and Emily) stole the show! I will admit that I was VERY pessimistic about the whole thing. I did not think that four kids (between the ages two and four) would carry it off without a hitch. And I'm very glad to say that I was wrong! They did such a great job and were completely adorable!

The wedding itself was so beautiful. I always stress out when I have to take pictures indoors, because the lighting isn't always exactly right. But the venue was gorgeous and we were able to get some really pretty shots!

Here are a few more shots of those adorable flower girls:
(Plus Lindyl, who wasn't old enough to walk quite yet.)

Congrats, you two! We are so happy for you!
I hope you have a lifetime of love and happiness together!

And The Biggest Blog Slacker Award Goes To....

2011-03-18T15:32:00.003-06:00

Me!

Thank you so much! There are so many people I would like to thank that have made this award possible.

First, my girls. Thank you so much for filling my day with busy work, demands, laughter, tears, errands, trips to the store and school, and hours of play time. Without you, I would have found oodles of time to sit around and work on my blog.

Second, I have to thank James. Thank you for introducing me to my current life after the girls are in bed, which mainly consists of watching TV, playing games and spending quality time together. I've never felt more lazy (but in a good way) in my life.

Third, my new house. How could I forget you? Its been a year living with you now, and I have blogged less since we've been here than I did in one month the year before. Thank you for the endless amount of housework that you have provided.

And lastly, I have to thank my sister, Alison. Your friendship has opened up a whole new world ways to distract me from updating my blog. And without you, I wouldn't have even been eligible for this award.

Thanks to everyone else that helped me achieve this! I owe it all to you! Here's to an even slackery year in 2011!

** The "Biggest Blog Slacker Award" is not an actual award. It was created solely for the purpose to excuse away any blog slackerishness that has occured over the past year. Although she comes across as hostile and slightly bitter, the creator of this award is actually grateful for everything and everyone named in the "acceptance speech." **

Fotofly Portraits

2011-02-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

I love being a photographer. And I love taking pictures of my kids more than anything else. But every once in a while, I want to sit back and watching someone else take pictures of them. Especially when its in a setting that I can't really recreate on my own.

I heard about Fotofly from my sister after she took her kids there for Christmas portraits. Ever since then, I wanted to go. They spend 45 minutes with you, taking as many pictures as they can. They have two rooms and each wall has a different backdrop and/or floor. At the end, if you aren't happy with the pictures, they charge you nothing. But as you can see, I highly doubt that it ever happens. Their photographers are phenomonal and I couldn't believe how many AMAZING shots they got. For $79, you get a CD with all the photos from your session. So I was able to take all these pictures home and get prints of whatever I wanted! LOVE it! And I'll be going back soon!

Emily's Little Gym Party

2011-01-15T18:10:00.012-07:00

Emily's 2nd Birthday Party was at the Little Gym in Sandy. I've wanted to have a party here ever since Katie took a class when she was two. And for my little Goose who does not stop moving for even one minute, this party was PERFECT! (Thanks to my sister, Alison, for taking pictures so I didn't have to worry about that during the party! They are perfect!)

They started the party with some games and running around on the equipment. It was fun to let the kids explore and try everything out. Emily was going NUTS and tried everything several times. So much fun! They got out some bean bags and tossed them in the air. They got out balls and kicked them around. They blew bubbles. They jumped on the bounce run. They learned how to do gymnastic tricks on the equipment. It was nonstop and super fun for everyone!

I'm so glad we got this picture of Katie. She wasn't feeling well on this day and was super sad and cranky through most of the party. This photo is very deceptive, because it only shows the first five minutes when she was having fun. But its super cute of the big sister at the party!

Emily is FEARLESS. We've always known this about her, but she amazed the Little Gym staff when she was willing (and able!) to walk on the balance beam and jump off without hesitating! She could not be more different from her sister!

Lots of cute cousins that came to the party! It made for a long of chaos and a lot of fun!

My ever-talented sister-in-law, Stefanie, produced another amazing cake for the party. Seriously, wow. I couldn't get over how stinking cute it was. The stars! The ribbons! Ahhhh!! It was very hard to cut into it and eat it!

Alison was sitting next to Emily at the table during cake and ice cream. She said that the entire wall next to them was lined with mirrors. She got about three dozen pictures of Emily pulling faces at herself in the mirror. LOL! So cute!

The staff ended the party by building a "Birthday Throne" for Emily to sit on while she opened presents. Such a cute idea! She loved the attention and the cousins had fun climbing up the steps the hand her a present. She was definitely spoiled with tons of darling gifts! Thanks to everyone that came!

Emily's 2nd Birthday

2011-01-08T19:42:00.004-07:00

Emily turned two years old today! (Don't be fooled by the party hats that James picked up at the store.... "A" for effort, right?) We had a super fun day planned for Emily's special day, even though her birthday party isn't until next week.

Emily and Mom started the day at Gymcats with Alison and Brooke. We signed up for a trial class together and it was PERFECT for Emily's birthday. They kept us so busy, that I didn't have even one second to take any pictures. But Emily had the time of her life and I'm looking forward to taking her to class every week with Brooke and Alison! Thanks for the fun idea!

Emily was exhausted after playing at Gymcats, so she took a long nap in the afternoon. That was perfect timing, because it gave us time to get her present ready. We decided to get Emily an inflatable trampoline this year, to hopefully dispel some of that never-ending energy that she has. We've all been very excited about it!

Katie loved helping dad get the bounce house ready. It was very hard for her to be patient while James blew it up, but she did a great job! I was so proud of Katie throughout the entire day. She was so cheerful and helpful throughout all the attention that Emily was getting. I know that was not easy for a four-year-old!

When Emily woke up from her nap, everything was ready to go. She walked into the living room and ran straight for it! It was like it had always been there and she had done it a thousand times.

After a quick dinner, we got out some storebought Dora cupcakes and sang to Emily. She LOVED blowing out the candles and was very proud of herself!

Katie picked out a present for Emily this year. She saw this monkey at Target that sings and dances and she immediately wanted to get it for Goose. She has been asking every day for a week if we can give it to her. You can see the excitement on Katie's face... she just couldn't wait any longer!

It was SO funny when Emily pulled the monkey out. At first she gave it a hug and was so excited to see a stuffed monkey. But then Katie turned it on and it started singing and dancing, which really startled Emily! She jumped off of the chair and backed way up for a few seconds before she realized how much fun it was!

All in all, it was a perfect day for our family. I'm so glad that we got to spend it together and we enjoyed every minute of it. Now we are looking forward to Emily's party on Saturday at the Little Gym! Lucky girl to have two perfect birthday celebrations on the same year!

Two Years Ago Today

2011-01-08T18:51:00.002-07:00

Emily and Sharon

January 8th, 2009

Emily at Two Years Old

2011-01-08T17:30:00.003-07:00

I just can't believe that my baby girl is two years old already! The past two years have FLOWN by. She is such a grown up girl now and I wanted to make a list of all her favorite things and developmental changes. Here goes!

- Her nickname list has been whittled down to just a few. We still call her Goose most of the time, but also say Emmy and Gwimer a lot of the time. Everyone always asks me where the nickname "Goose" came from and I really don't have a good answer! But it makes sense to us! She is a Goose!
- She is big for her age! I just took her to her two year appointment and she was 79% for weight and 69% for height and her head was a whopping 96%! She has been in 2T clothes for a couple months now and I think she will be in 3T in the next few months!
- Her vocabulary has tripled in the past couple of weeks. She will copy nearly everything that we say, but her most common phrases include: "Wha happen?", "Bonk a head... ouchie!", "Dat funny!", "Aww cute!" and "Scuse me!"
- She loves to sing. We sing songs before bedtime every night and she loves to sing along, even if the only word she gets right is the one at the end of each sentence. LOL! But she does know all the words to Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle, Twinkle.
- She is still super active! She climbs on EVERYTHING, which is really aggravating when we are visiting someones house or something. She loves to "jumpy jumpy" on the couch or... off of the couch and onto something else. This is the main reason that we got her a bounce house for her birthday and her party will be at The Little Gym!
- She has really good coordination. She can run, jump, skip, climb, dance, somersault and even walk across a balance beam at Gymcats with little help!
- She is fearless! She doesn't seem to be scared of much and even if she is startled or nervous, it doesn't last long. She is definitely the anti-Katie in this department. She will willingly go with most people, loves to be chased by the vaccum and thinks its hilarious when she falls off of something. I have a feeling this one will be scaring ME when she is older!
- She has two personalities. She is either super happy and easy to have around, or she is MAD and mean. She has been spending a lot of time on the time-out step lately for doing things like hitting, screaming and shoving. She still smacks herself in the face when she is mad (which is SOOO weird!!) but I love it when she folds her arms really hard and says, "HHMPH" when she is mad at someone. But she is always quick to say sorry and give hugs when she hurts someone, which is always very sweet.
- She likes a few foods really well and will sometimes try new things. But we usually stay well stocked with grapes, mac & cheese (with peas and carrots), pancake and sausage minis, string cheese, granola bars and yogurt. She will be your very best friend if you have a sucker or popsicle, though!
- She has been sleeping through the night for a few months now. Occasionally she will wake up for a minute, but she always goes right back down. So most of them time she gets 10-12 hours at night and then a 2-3 hour nap during the day! And she is very cranky if she doesn't get that much sleep!
- She loves her yellow butterfly blankies and still uses a passie and bottle at night. We will be taking her bottle away soon, which I am dreading!
- She is beyond obsessed with Mom's smartphone. She has a few games on there that she likes to play ("Monkey Preschool Lunchbox", "Talking Tom Cat" and "Funny Race") and she will play them all day long if I let her. I'm always surprised that she can navigate her way through the phone menus to find the games she wants and always does really well at the matching games!
- She has been super attached to Mommy lately. She loves Dad just as much and always loves to be around him. But for some reason, when Mommy is around she is constantly giving hugs and kisses and saying, "Awww... Momma..." I love it! And it makes Dad super jealous!
- She loves her big sister more than anyone in the world. She spends 80% of her day following Katie around and trying desperately to copy everything she does. I try to give Katie a break from it when I can, but for the most part they play really well together. The love to color, ride bikes, play with blocks and do so many other things together.
- She is getting to be good friends with her little cousins, especially Brooke. She and Brooke are becoming such cute little playmates and get into a lot of trouble together! She is always saying, "Brookie... where ahhhhhh you?" But she has so many other cousins and aunts that she can't get enough of, too! (And Uncle Guckie, of course.)

We love our little Goose so much. She brings so much joy into our house. She always keeps us laughing and makes our family feel so complete. Sometimes when I'm looking at her, I just can't believe that there are two little beings on this earth that I love as much as I do. She is perfect the way that she is and I can't wait to watch her grow up and learn.

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Snow Day

2010-12-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

It has been such a snowy winter this year! Its definitely a lot of snow, even for Utah. But we love it! So on New Year's Eve, we decided to take the girls out to play in their snowsuits. Both girls were excited beyond belief and they loved every second of it! It was so funny to watch them, because they had two layers of clothes on underneath their big, puffy snowsuits. So they could barely move! But it didn't slow them down a bit! What a super fun day!

Messy, Gooey, Gross Little Sister

2010-12-10T20:44:00.006-07:00

Emily tends to be pretty messy when she eats. Especially when its something like mac & cheese. If Emily ever gets stuff on her face or chews with her mouth open, Katie refuses to look at her. She will even plug her ears sometimes to try to block it out. LOL! Find a happy place, Katie!

2010 Orgill Thanksgiving Dinner

2010-11-25T21:05:00.004-07:00

It was another great Thanksgiving at my parents' house this year. It was the "off" year for our family, so most of my siblings were at their in-laws' homes. It was just us, Alison & Rob (& Brooke), Diane & Darin, my parents, Skyler & Brea and Trevor for dinner. Of course, the thing that made this dinner extra special was my cousin, Anna, who was visiting from England. It was her first Thanksgiving dinner ever and we LOVED having her there!

This is the second year in a row that Karen has provided all of the decorations, without even staying for dinner herself. She is amazing. Seriously. She even rushed over three new nametags when we found out that Skyler, Trevor and Brea were coming at the last minute. I appreciate her so much!

Preschool Thanksgiving Party

2010-11-23T12:48:00.013-07:00

Katie's preschool teacher is so amazing. She plans so many fun activities and parties for the kids. This week, she had each of the kids bring a snack to school so they could have a Thanksgiving Feast together. I wanted Katie to feel special at her party, so I decided to dress her in this darling dress. (Thanks Susan!) It has drawings of London landmarks on it, which is super sentimental to me. But I thought the red bow made it a perfect party dress! She looked so cute and I just had to snap some pics!

Blue Sunset

2010-11-21T01:09:00.007-07:00

There are times when there is no possible way that a camera can capture what your eye is seeing. On this fall evening, there was a sunset that made the entire valley glow. Typically you would expect a sunset to be gold, purple or pink. But this one was blue. It literally took our breath away when we looked outside and saw the air glowing and then saw the gorgeous colors all around.

These photos have not been photoshopped in any way and definitely cannot do it justice. But I still wanted to share them.

I couldn't get a good view in my own yard, because there are too many houses around. So I jumped in my car and drove to the nearest school to get an unobstructed view of the sky. The sun was gone, but it was still gorgeous!

Who Needs Toys?

2010-11-12T20:24:00.002-07:00

Janet and Joe have been coming over on weekends to play games with us. Its been really fun for us and even more fun for the girls to play together! Adele is right between Katie and Emily in age and they all get along pretty well. One day we ordered food from Olive Garden and the girls couldn't get enough of the to-go bags! They ended up watching an entire movie while sitting in them. So funny!

Trick-or-Treating

2010-10-31T22:10:00.000-06:00

On Halloween, we decided to head up to Diane's house to go trick-or-treating in her neighborhood. We started at her house and I'm so glad that we did, because all four of her boys wanted to go with us! We had Trevor with us, too. So we had quite a big group wandering around for a while. Loved it!

Katie LOVED having Luke with us. They were even holding hands for part of the walk. Emily loved everything to do with trick-or-treating. She loved walking around outside at night, she loved getting candy from people, she loved knocking on the doors and she loved saying "Tri-Treeeee" over and over! The whole night was so much fun!

2010 Orgill Halloween Party

2010-10-30T13:58:00.043-06:00

October always brings one of the best parties of the year to our family. And this year was no exception. The Halloween party was a huge success, thanks (as always!) to Aunt Karen! It was so much fun! Stefanie has started making custom cakes for our parties and this one (above) is my favorite so far. It was sitting on the table for half of the party before I realized it was a cake! So cute!!

Nearly everyone dressed up, which never happens! It really adds to the fun enviroment!

The kids started the party with the costume parade and picked up treats from each adult along the way.

Afton was a piece of toast. I have never laughed so hard! Stefanie's talents will never cease to amaze and impress me!

This year we were excited to have a couple of guests at our party. Skyler and Trevor's older sister, Breighn, came out to Grantsville for the first time in 12 years. And this time she brought her tiny baby, Naiyah, with her. It was so great to see them!

Katie always loves having so many cousins to play with!

The last party event of the day was a "Book Walk." Everyone brought a Halloween-themed book to give away. And every child went home with a new book! Such a great idea! I hope we do it every year!

A million thanks to Karen for turning out yet another fantastic party!!

Preschool Halloween Party

2010-10-28T20:38:00.000-06:00

I don't know if you remember, but last year for Halloween, Katie was absolutely insistent that she be a witch for Halloween. She wouldn't consider any other costume for even a moment. This year she had a few that she considered, but the idea of being a witch again always won out. Luckily, Aunt Karen had a witch costume that fit her, so Emily could wear Katie's old costume.

Katie was SO excited to wear her costume to school. When I picked her up, I had to get a quick picture of all the kids together, because they all looked so cute in their costumes! Katie is standing next to her two little friends that she talks about all the time, Ellie and Rayanna. What a bunch of cuties!

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-27T20:15:00.000-06:00

James LOVES to carve pumpkins. If possible, he looks forward to it more than the girls. And I'm perfectly content to let him do all the work while I sit back and take pictures! LOL! The girls loved every step of the process. So much fun!

I love the expression on Katie's face as she grabbed a handful of pumpkin "guts." She wanted to do it so much, but didn't want to admit that she regretted it!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-19T16:51:00.021-06:00

I've always wanted to take the girls to a pumpkin patch. So I looked around and found the Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove. On their website, they made it sound completely amazing because there were games, activties, playgrounds, a hay ride and "several" pumpkin patches.

In reality, it was only okay. It cost an arm and a leg to get in (I thought you only had to pay for each thing you wanted to do... false advertising.) The good part was that no one was there, so the girls were free to run around on their own. They did have some haystacks to climb and animals to look at. Fun and pretty low-key. Then we decided to take a hay ride, since that was the only way to get to the pumpkin patch (lame.) Emily was terrified the entire way, but Katie liked it.

Then we got to the "pumpkin patch." I use this term loosely because it was basically a giant field full of dead sunflowers... with a few green pumpkins scattered around. What made it worse was that we got there later than we expected and it was already getting dark and cold. LAME. Good thing the girls had no expectations whatsoever because they loved every second of it! So we did have a good time... we just won't go back there again!

Fall Portraits

2010-10-10T13:47:00.024-06:00

After weeks of putting if off, I finally got some portraits of my girls. It was very spur-of-the-moment, like most of our own shoots turn out to be. I hurried to get them dressed and headed out the door with James.

We went to the go-to photography spot in Lehi near the old Railroad Museum. Its funny, cause there are always several photographers and families there. But I can see why! Lots of great options! These turned out surprisingly well for how cranky Emily was. I got her to laugh a few times and then we had to leave because she wouldn't hold still or listen. But thats all we needed!

LYLAS = Love Ya Like A Sis!

2010-10-08T17:03:00.014-06:00

I had the best friends ever in high school. I mean it. I seriously couldn't have found better friends. Not only did I depend on them in every way, but we always had a blast together. And they were GOOD girls. Since high school, three of them went on mission and all of us have been married in the Salt Lake Temple. They always were amazing examples to me and they still are!

We used to get together once a year or so, but we haven't been able to do that for a few years. Loni and Julie live out of state and we are all super busy being moms and all that. We had a small window of time where Loni and Julie were in Utah at the same time, so we all got together at my parents' house in Grantsville. No husbands, but we did bring the kids! Eight kids between the five of us and Julie is expecting the 9th! Crazy!

It was such a fun night. We just visited and caught up on each other's lives. What a fantastic bunch of girls! I love them and want to be just like all of them when I grow up!

Emily's Hair

2010-10-04T11:42:00.002-06:00

Emily's hair is something that I've battled with for 20 months now. It is stringy, sparse and non-existent in the front. She has refused to wear headbands since she was seven months old and immediately pulls out any elastics or bows. The back is growing significantly faster than the front, so I have trimmed the back at least twice now to prevent her from having a mullet. So this is the reason that she looks like a boy and/or an orphan most of the time.

But I'm planning on doing fall pictures of my girls soon and I am determined to make her hair look cute. Today while I was at Alison's house, I noticed some sponge curlers sitting out and decided to tackle Emily long enough to get them in her hair. It seriously took four times longer than it should have because of my inexperience and Emily pulling them out and moving her head around the entire time. But I finally got them all in and quickly used a hair dryer to dry the hair, since I knew the marshmallow and swedish fish bribe wouldn't last long.

When she inevitably took the curlers out, I was surprised to see how full it made her hair look. They weren't really "curls" because she took them out so fast, and the pieces of hair were all over the place, but I think with some practice it could look really cute!

Ferguson Family Reunion

2010-09-18T16:13:00.002-06:00

Alison and Rob were planning a family reunion for his family (more accurately, Alison spent about 40 hours planning it by herself... she is amazing!) and asked if I could take pictures. Just one catch... the reunion was in Idaho. LOL! So we decided to turn it into a vacation since it was going to take place just a few days before our 5th anniversary. So we left the girls in Grantsville (Thanks, Mom!!) and stayed in Idaho for two nights. It was so nice to get away!

I spent just a couple of hours at the reunion. But it was really fun to meet some of Rob's family and attempt to get everyone gathered for the big group photo. He has 13 siblings, most of whom where there... and then a gazillion grandchildren and great-great grandkids in the family. I never thought I'd meet a family that made mine feel small.

Thanks for the fun trip, Alison & Rob (and Mom!)

Katie's First Day of Preschool

2010-09-09T16:05:00.000-06:00

Ummm... how in the world did Katie become old enough to go to school? That definitely crept up on me. I still feel like she is a little toddler and it should be years before I have to worry about finding a good preschool or things like that! But I was lucky to find Meranie Karren at the Lilypad Preschool in Lehi. She taught first grade for seven years, but quit because she just had a baby. This is her first year teaching preschool in her basement and I feel like I couldn't have found a better teacher! She is super sweet and understanding that Katie is a Nervous Nelly about every little thing.

After weeks of anticipation, Katie's first official day of preschool arrived! I have been so anxious about it, because Katie won't even go to Primary. So I thought for sure that she would have a really hard time when Mom dropped her off at school for the first time.

So I tried to make it super exciting for her. She put on a new outfit (thanks, Aunt Susan!), got her hair done, put on her new backpack and sat outside with Emmy for pictures. She was really excited... until I dropped her off, that is. Once she remembered that Mom wasn't staying with her, she hugged my leg and started crying. Her teacher had told the parents to just drop them off and not prolong the agony. So I turned her over to Mrs. Karren and headed out. I was so worried the entire time that she was sad and making it hard for her teacher. But after I picked her up, her teacher told me that she cried for about 30 seconds and then was perfectly happy the entire time! I'm so glad!!

Emily had to get in on the pictures before we took Katie to school.

I asked Katie to stand in front of the preschool sign, and she gave me her go-to head-tilt pose.

Mrs. Karren walks all the kids out to the sidewalk and waits with them. So nice of her, so I don't have to unload Emily ever time I go! Katie looked so small next to all of the other kids! I guess she really is since most of them are turning five in the next month or two and Katie just barely turned four!

She couldn't wait to show me all of her projects from school today. She has been talking about school and her new friends non-stop. And she says that she wants to go again! I'm so relieved that she had such a great time! Way to go, Katie!

Hey Eyelashes....

2010-09-09T14:41:00.000-06:00

.... where you going with that kid?

I think I might need to transplant some of Emily's eyelashes onto her head so I can actually pull it into a ponytail for once.

Happy 15th Birthday, Trevor!

2010-09-05T22:45:00.020-06:00

We were lucky to have my nephew, Trevor, at our house on his birthday. I wanted to make sure he would have a fun-filled day, so I decorated the living room (but forgot to take pics), wrapped a couple presents and got an ice cream cake from Cold Stone. My sister, Alison, also took us to Boondocks so he could have even more fun on his special day!

We love you, Trevor! I am so grateful to have you in my family. We love having you at our house and always will think of you as our own! Thanks for always being the best nephew and friend that I could ask for!

Where's Katie?

2010-09-02T14:37:00.000-06:00

Katie and Emily were playing the other day when Katie decided to 'hide' from her sister. Ummm... seriously, this is the best you could do? I guess when you don't have much time, you make it work! LOL!!

Congrats, Diane and Darin!

2010-08-27T22:33:00.000-06:00

We are so happy for my sister, Diane, who got married on August 27th to Darin Leslie. They are so much alike and we hope that they will have a wonderful life together!

They wanted to keep the ceremony super small and only invited their parents and children to attend. (It turned out to be the shortest ceremony on the face of the earth. If anyone had blinked, they might have missed it! LOL!) My sister, Alison, and I were lucky to be there to help with hair and photos, so we got to participate a little in their happy day! Alison did such a fabulous job on Diane and Darin's girls' hair. And I think the pictures turned out great!

The Leslie/Chatwin Family: (clockwise) Seth, Nathan, Darin, Diane, Caleb, Luke, Aliese, Anna and Gracie. Is this the reverse Brady Bunch or what? Diane brought four boys and Darin brought three girls into the marriage! How funny!

Congrats, you guys! It was a super special day!

Katie's Hair

2010-08-27T14:30:00.013-06:00

I've been trying to be more creative with Katie's hair lately. Its getting pretty long and she is getting a little more willing to let me do it. Today I had her lie down on her tummy with her head hanging off the couch while I pulled her hair into the "star ponytail." Its a little lopsided, but not bad for a first try!

See how much Katie loves it? LOL!

Summer Flooding

2010-08-10T14:16:00.020-06:00

We love a sudden summer thunderstorm at our house! The girls immediately run to the front door and will stand there and watch the rain pound on the driveway for ages! Even Mom, Dad and Skyler couldn't resist standing out on the porch for a while.

On this particular day, we looked in the backyard and noticed that the storm drain in the middle of the grass was starting to overflow.

We stood at the back door and watched as it got bigger....

bigger.....

and bigger!

Skyler grabbed the umbrella and headed out to our new pond to see how deep it was. Amazing!

Look at the gorgeous sky... just as the rain stopped falling.

And here is it... just one hour after the storm! LOL!

The Goose at 18 Months

2010-08-09T06:16:00.001-06:00

Okay, so she is actually 19 months old now. I really should be better at keeping up with the progress reports, because she is changing so much every single day!

Here is her list for the past few months:

- Yes, she knows her name is Emily. I get asked that a lot, because our family calls her "Goose" and "Goosie" about 90% of the time. She will also respond to Emmy, Pemberton and Gwimer. (Thank you, James.) Her cousin, Afton, calls her "The Goose" which seriously melts me!
- She is still a climber. And she is getting even more daring. She has climbed onto every piece of furniture in our house, I think. Her favorite is the kitchen table. Luckily, she has really good balance and has fallen only a handful of times.
- She is starting to talk quite a bit. She says: "pea" (please), "danku" (thank you), "mynee" (mommy), "bonkie" (blankie), "key" (okay), "Kay-kay" (Katie) and a number of other things. She would probably learn a little faster if Mom and Dad didn't enjoy copying her baby pronounciation.
- She is a copy cat. She spends most of her day following Katie around and doing whatever big sister wants to do. I hope that they always get along so well, although I can't imagine that Emily will always be this content to let Katie be in charge!

- She is a performer. She will usually dance or say things when we ask her to. She loves getting big reactions out of Mom and Dad and will do things over and over for us!

- Do not attempt to leave the house without expecting to have Goose in tow. She LOVES to get out and brings her shoes to us all the time.

- Her favorite foods lately include: chicken, fig newtons, mac & cheese, peas, rice, string cheese, and yogurt. She loves to eat with the family and will sit in her high chair the entire time we are eating, even if she ate beforehand!
- She is getting better at letting me put clips in her hair, but they still don't last very long.
- She LOVES baths and would live in the water if we let her!

- She sleeps really well at night and for naps. I just tell her to find "Bonkie" and she will run straight to her crib and wait for me to lift her in. Too cute!

- She loves to follow her older cousins around and act like she is one of the big girls. But she is also starting to play really well with Brooke and Mya, who are close to her age. Its so fun watching them grow up together!

Both Mom and Dad are smitten with this little girl. I seriously can't get enough of her. So much of the time, we just like to sit and watch her play. She is so expressive and talkative. But she is also the most cheerful, content little girl that I have ever seen. She rarely cries or whines. She just likes to go with the flow and be with her family! I just feel so grateful for my life every time I look at her face. There have been a couple times when James will go and wake her up from her nap or even at night just because he wants to see her!

We love you so much, Emily Judith!

Glitter Party

2010-07-29T23:16:00.047-06:00

James and I started a birthday party tradition with Katie when she turned two. We decided that on our kids' even-numbered birthdays, we would let them have a party with their friends. Then on odd-numbered birthdays, they would choose an activity for the family to do together. So with Katie's 4th birthday coming up, I started planning a party for her. I gave her a few suggestions (Chuck E. Cheese, a movie with friends, Thanksgiving Point, etc.) and she very enthusiastically chose to have a "Glitter Toes" party. I got my toes done for my birthday and she had been obsessed with the idea ever since. So it was decided... a Glitter Toes party for Katie and four of her friends/cousins!

I made these invitations for the Glitter Party! I was pretty excited to find a digital scrapbooking kit that was called "Glitter Cupcake Birthday."

Katie's friends started coming to her house and brought some super fun presents!

I found a girl on KSL.com classifieds to come to our house for the party and do Glitter Toes for all the girls (and moms!) They each got to choose their own color and were all so good when getting their toes painted!

The end results turned out so cute!

Katie was so lucky to have both of her grandmas at her party! (Neither of them would get their toes painted, though! Party poopers!)

Afton, Regan, Katie, Lauren and Megan had so much fun at the Glitter Party!

I LOVE this picture! (And I love that Katie is wearing her necklace backwards.)

What a fun day for such a special girl! We love out Katie Dawn so much!

One last picture. After all the guests had gone home and I had cleaned up the house, I found Katie's stuffed kitty on the counter wearing the birthday crown. Perfect ending to a perfect day!

Katie at Four Years Old

2010-07-29T06:26:00.000-06:00

My little girl is four years old! It is so hard for me to believe! I wanted to do a list of her development and favorite things at this age. So here goes!

- She doesn't have as many nicknames as she used to, but that is mainly because she corrects us now. "I'm Katie! Silly mom!" But we do still call her Katie Bee, KaterTot, Katiedid, and a couple of other things.

- She is little for her age! She is starting to get into the 4T clothes, but still wears a lot of her 3T clothes. Emily will catch up with her before we know it!

- She is a daddy's girl through and through. She spends most of her days counting down the hours/minutes until he gets home from work. And there have even been a couple of days when she has cried all day long because she misses him. Time for a Daddy/Daughter workday, I think!

- She knows all the shapes, letters and numbers and is now starting to spell words and sound them out on her own. Its funny, because I don't try to do it with her or anything! She has just figured it out from the educational shows that she watches. "Word World" is her latest favorite and that has gone a long way to help her spell! Although... she isn't SO great at it sometimes. My favorite was when she said to her Holt cousins: "K is for avacado... ava-K-K-K-K-kado! LOL!

- She STILL sleeps with Mom and Dad. Yes, I am aware that she is four. And I am aware that Emily hasn't slept with us since she was six months old (which makes me SO sad... I wish she would sleep with us!) Sometimes we will get Katie to sleep in her room, but she almost always comes in after just a couple hours. Lucky for her, Mom and Dad like to have her there and we are too lazy to do anything about it right now!

- She is a good little eater, for the most part. She will try anything once and likes most of the things that we give her. Her favorites include: PB&J, cottage cheese and fruit, Frosted Flakes, Special K, chicken nuggets, rice, peas, corn, granola bars and Slim Fast. (I love giving her "chocolate milk" when she wants a snack, because it has lots of vitamins and stuff!) I did not appreciate it when she told her pediatrician that her three favorite foods are: chicken nuggets, fries and cheeseburgers. Thanks for that.

- She loves to help Mom cook and do chores. In fact, she will get upset if I finish a chore without telling her. She especially loves to help fold the laundry. It might take her an hour to fold the towels, but she will do every bit of it by herself!

- She is super independent with certain things, but very anxious and codependent with other things. Its funny, cause there is no middle ground with Katie.

- She has three imaginary friends that she plays with from time to time: Mario, Luigi and Yoshi. (Do you think she and James play the Wii too much or what?) She will talk to them and about them like they are very real. Once I even heard her telling "them" that they couldn't come into the bathroom with her because she is a girl and they are all boys. LOL!

- I have never seen such a young child color as well as she does. She makes sure that she stays in the lines and has done for a long time now! She loves Color By Number pages and does the whole thing without any help.

- She loves playing with her cousins more than anything else. She especially loves when Megan and Lauren come over to play hide and seek! She thinks they come up with the best ideas and talks about it for days on end. LOL!

- She loves her little sister very much. She always tells us how cute Emily is and that she is her best friend. They play so well together and she helpful... most of the time.

We love you, Katie!

Four Years Ago

2010-07-29T05:41:00.000-06:00

Katie and Sharon

July 29, 2006

Summer Afternoons

2010-06-29T10:51:00.000-06:00

My girls spend a great deal of time playing on our deck. It doesn't have stairs and its pretty small, which makes it a perfect outdoor play area for them.

One day, I looked outside and saw that they had pulled their little chairs out there and were enjoying their snack out on the deck. LOL!

What cutie, silly girls.

Beauty

2010-06-28T16:39:00.001-06:00

Thursday Thirteen #19 - Teenagers In The House

2010-06-17T23:42:00.002-06:00

Its summer. And one of the only reasons that I LOVE summer is because my nephews usually stay with us for a good part of their summer vacation. Skyler (16) and Trevor (14) are two of my favorite people ever and have been with us for a week so far. Let the fun begin!

Thirteen Things I Love

About Having Teenage Boys Around

1. Nicknames: James has the opportunity to show off his nickname generating skills. Skyler: Skyliz, LizLaz, LizLazLaronimo, Sklizard, and Bieber. Trevor: T-Bone, TrevyBev, TrevDawg and Travo.

2. Video Games: James and I play about 20 times more video games than normal when the boys are here. Lately our games of choice have been: Fable II, Forza, Evony, Age of Mythology and ArmorGames.com. (Surprisingly, none of us have played WoW in months.)

3. Adult Conversation: When I'm used to being alone with the girls all day every day, it makes a huge difference when I can have the boys around to talk to. And these boys are not typical teenagers, since they talk to me about anything and everything! Love it.

4. Built-In Babysitters: I rarely ask them to watch my girls for longer than a few minutes at a time. But it is so nice to be able to run to the store while Emily is napping or something. Two extra pairs of hands and eyes help a lot with keeping my girls out of trouble! And both my girls LOVE these boys.

5. Mealtime: Cooking is so much easier when you are making food for more than two people. Plus we love eating altogether when we get a chance!

6. Help Around The House: When the boys stay with us for longer than a couple days, I usually put them in charge of dishes and trashes. But its nice when they want to earn some extra money, because I hire them to do things for me around the house. Example from yesterday: Skyler organized the garage and installed a hose holder. Trevor moved a bunch of clothes' boxes out of storage and into the girls' room so I can get them organized.

7. Extra Car/Driver: Although I was terrified when Skyler first turned 16 and got his license, now I think its the best thing ever! Especially right now, because he loves having an excuse to drive anywhere! So he picks up food for us, goes on fountain drink runs and takes Trevor to get his haircut.

8. Inside Jokes: It seems like we are always laughing. These boys are so dang funny. And they seem to be full of one-liners that we end up quoting for years to come. An example would be the time that we were all joking around and teased Trevor for a minute, all in good fun. He was quiet and looked down and said, "Awww.... Trevor died that day." LOL! We say that all the time now. Funny boys!

9. Long Drives: The boys love to go on drives with me or James. Lots of good talks and laughs. And lots of Sonic drinks.

10. Good Examples: Both of these boys are wonderful examples for my girls. They are both extremely kind and considerate, but they also do what they are asked without complaint. I am seriously amazed by them every day. I don't think I have heard either of them complain about a single thing since they got here last week. They are happy and easy to have around.

11. Similar Habits: One of my worst habits is that I kick off my shoes in random places and then have a hard time finding the ones I want to wear. Same goes for the boys. So with them here, I feel like there are shoes EVERYWHERE. But I love it.

12. Late Night Walks: Skyler and I have been going for walks after the girls go to bed lately. I like going on walks at night, but never want to go alone. So I love having someone with me!

13. Family Togetherness: They both express often how much they want to be around us. It amazes me every time! They have both chosen to stay at our house before hanging out with friends (and even girlfriends sometimes!) I love these boys just like they are part of our little family and I love it when they are here so I can pretend that they are!

And Then There Were Five

2010-06-09T19:50:00.002-06:00

Five little girls.

Lindyl, Emily, Rhoda, Adele and Katie.

Ages 10 days, 1, 2, almost 3 and almost 4.

Grandchildren of Dawn & Richard.

And getting them all in one photo was nothing short of a miracle for me.

We have been house-sitting for my sister in Grantsville this week.

Basil and Kristen are leaving for Oregon tonight.

Richard had Adele in Levan.

So we decided to meet up at my house in Lehi to say our good-byes.

Once Adele, Rhoda and Lindyl were there, I woke up my girls from their naps.

This photo was taken approximately five minutes after everyone arrived...

and about two minutes after my girls woke up.

They held still for no more than thity seconds.

But that was enough time for me to take about 20 photos, one of which was decent.

And I'm pretty sure it will be treasured for years to come...

Or at least until the next time all five girls are in the same place at once.

And I'm pretty sure this is my new favorite photo of Katie.

I sure wish I looked so darn cute when I roll out of bed.

Water Babies

2010-06-07T18:18:00.002-06:00

Its official. Summer is here. And I will be honest. I'm not a fan. I do not like to be outside when its hotter than 70 degrees. BUT I am determined to let my girls enjoy the summer even if I'm hating deep down inside. So... let the fun begin!

We stopped at Ryan and Stefanie's today to let the girls go swimming. It was the first time I have ever seen Emily in a swimsuit and I'm not sure I've seen anything cuter.

Okay, maybe Emily and Mya had a hard time at first. They always seemed to stand still right in the path of the sprinkler and did NOT like it when the water surprised them. So funny!

How in the world did we both end up with two girls that are the same ages? Seriously couldn't have planned it better! They all have such a blast together.

Mya Pya is such a cheese! If she saw the camera, she would just stand in front of me and smile great big! What a cutie!

Oh boy. These two were peas in a pod and were loving every minute of it.

Notice the water splashing. I think Emily would live in the water if I let her! For some reason, it didn't phase her when Katie dumped buckets of water on her head, but she hated the sprinkler getting her. Maybe she is just used to the sibling torture!

Aftie Paftie catching some sun. Too bad that isn't something that our girls will ever get to do together. My poor girls got my skin and will always burn easily even if they've been lathered up with sunscreen.

Thanks for such a fun morning, Stef! Loved it!

Lindyl Jean Anderson

2010-06-05T10:14:00.002-06:00

Basil and Kristen welcome their second daughter into the world on Sunday, May 30th at 9:41 am. She was three weeks early but still weighed 7 pounds and 2 ounces! She is one of the cutest little newborns I've seen and we love having her so close! I wish I could spend all day every day holding her, but I guess she is just one of those newborns that needs their mom. Weird. :)

They are leaving for Oregon on Thursday, so we won't get much time with this little cutie. I do hope to get a newborn photo shoot in before they go!

And yes, this the fifth granddaughter for Dawn & Richard... still no boys!

Congrats, guys! She is gorgeous!

P.S. I stole these pictures from their blog since I haven't had a chance to take any myself. I wish I could take credit for the top one! Its so dang cute!

Loving the Life We Live

2010-06-03T14:39:00.000-06:00

Our lives have been switching back and forth between slow motion and fast forward lately. Its been a fun and super busy couple of months, so I'll do a quick update. (My "quick" update is pretty long, so brace yourself.)

The original plan for moving into the new house was to spend a couple of months setting up and getting ready for James' brother, Charles, to move into the basement. But instead, he moved in less than a month after we did. It was busy, but fun once we got settled again. The girls both love Uncle Chuckie and he is cheerful and helfpul most of the time, so its easy to have him around.

The next step was getting ready for Kristen and Rhoda to spend a couple weeks with us, while she waited to have her baby on June 19th and Basil moved their stuff to Oregon. We went back and forth on the plans and finally decided that it made the most sense for Charles to move into our third bedroom upstairs and let them have the basement to themselves. It has a kitchen and outside entry, so it would become their little apartment for a couple weeks. But then that got pushed up and turned into a six week thing, with Basil living down there for the first three weeks. So we got settled again and were ready to spend the next few weeks together.

Fast foward a couple weeks, and I was staying somewhere with my sister over this past weekend. James called me and I was blown away when he told me that Kristen had her baby three weeks early! I didn't even know she was in labor. Lindyl Jean Anderson was born early on Sunday morning and was 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 inches long. I couldn't want to run home and hold this cutie pie!

But THEN Emily and Katie both got fevers, then I got a migraine, then Emily got a sore throat, then Katie and I started throwing up. So needless to say... we are trapped in our part of the house while trying hard not to spread anything to the new baby! We'll have to wait a couple more days to be safe, I think. I love hearing her cute little newborn cry through the vents, though! I am pretty sure that I will do what I can to see the baby myself today. Even if I have to hold my breath the entire time!

So, moving family in and adjusting to our new situations have taken up the majority of our time lately. I love James' family and am glad that I get along with them so well! We will miss Basil & Kristen when they move to Oregon and I might have to convince them to leave Lindyl here for a while.

Through all of these changes, James and I would both say that we are perfectly happy right now. I love the new house and still can't believe that we live here. It still seems surreal to me. We love our new ward and neighborhood. James just got a promotion at work and loves his job right now. I still watch Brooke once or twice a week and am grateful to have a job where I can take my girls to work with me. I feel so lucky to have such fun and generous family around me all the time. I had an awesome birthday and look forward to James' birthday coming up.

Maybe there is a part of me that looks forward to the day when we aren't sharing our house with anyone, or when I finally start losing weight, or when I can afford a housekeeper.... but man, we've got it good right now. And I don't mind saying so.

American Idol Finale ... My Review

2010-05-27T12:20:00.002-06:00

So... after skipping most of what can be proudly deemed the most BORING season of American Idol ever, I caught bits of the finale last night. But I didn't care who was winning. Sure, Lee and Crystal were both talented, but they both were snoozefests for me.... for them for me. I tuned in only because I knew that it was Simon's last show.

I fast-forwarded most of the show, including Dane Cook's horrible attempt to be funny, and most of the really poor contestant/music legend pairings. (Ummm note to the producers... don't ever have Crystal try to sing a duet of a classic Alanis song WITH Alanis. All it did was remind us that Alanis is amazing and this year's talent was subpar.) Christina Aguilera was cool and thank heavens no one tried to take her on by themselves. Ricky Gervais was hilarious, as usual.

Following a montage of Simon clips, the stage went dark and my favorite American Idol alumnist, Kelly Clarkson, walked out. I thought, "PERFECT way to pay tribute, by having the first winner on the show. But then Ruben Studdard walked out, followed by Fantasia Barrino (plug your ears), Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks (who didn't get the memo to wear dark colors), Taylor Hicks (YAY!!) and Kris Allen. Obviously, and much to my disappointment, David Cook wasn't there. But by this time, I was bawling. I loved seeing all the winners from past seasons singing together as a tribute to Simon.

But THEN a couple dozen runners-up from past seasons walk out and join in. WAHHHHHHHHHH. Okay, okay, the song wasn't the best I've ever heard. Cheesy and sappy. And you couldn't help but notice that we were missing David Cook, Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert (who cares), Katharine McPhee and Clay Aiken. But I LOVED seeing all of those that did show up. David Archuleta (who I can legally drool over now) and Bo Bice!! Woo hoo!! And I LOVED watching Simon get emotional, once Kara and Paula got out of his way so that he could actually watch the show. It was definitely the high point of the show for me. You can click here to watch the number on You Tube. And I NEVER thought I would say it, but Paula was a welcome sight after being forced to listen to Kara for an entire season.

So my question is... how in the world will this show continue on without Simon? Its already going downhill in a lot of ways. But I have no idea how it will recover without the sole reason for the show's success.

Bye Simon! We'll miss you!

Oh yeah... and congrats to Lee Dewyze. (Huh? Who?)

Sisters

2010-05-11T12:11:00.000-06:00

The other night, I told Katie that she could watch one show before she went to bed.

Emily was just sitting on the floor playing with some toys.

But then it was quiet.

I turned around and couldn't see Emily.

I got up and walked over to the living room...

and found this...

Katie and Emily were lying on the couch together...

Katie was playing with Emily's hair...

Emily was loving every minute of it.

Not sure it gets any cuter than that.

Well, actually I think I have one more photo of my girlies that just might blow that cuteness out of the water.

On another night, Katie was in timeout.

Happens around here more often than I would like.

She was sitting in the corner of the room, crying.

We looked over and saw that Emily was standing by her.

She backed up, in her cute little way, and sat down on Katie's lap.

She stayed there to comfort Katie until time out was over.

I love my sisters. And I'm so glad that my girls have each other.

Soft Blankies and Cute Little Pillows

2010-04-20T12:41:00.001-06:00

I have some amazingly talented sisters-in-law. Sewing is a talent that I will never have, but I will always be insanely jealous of those that can do it well. Stefanie and Kristen are great examples of the people that can sew just about anything.

Stefanie has made two blankets for me. One for each of my girls. She can knit and crochet like nobody's business. Notice how the pink colors fade to white on the border. Love it! These blankets will always be a treasure for my girls.

Last night, Kristen surprised me with this pillow. The colors match Emily's crib bedding so well and the embroidered words perfectly describe her relationship with her daddy. I had no idea when I was admiring pillows like this at Quilted Bear, that Kristen would not only remember, but that she would make one just for me!

Thanks to Ryan and Basil for marrying such talented and thoughtful women! And I hope my sisters-in-law don't mind when they start getting orders from me for more cute stuff!

Looks Comfy

2010-04-20T12:28:00.003-06:00

I started cleaning the kitchen.

I could hear Katie moving around for a while.

Suddenly she stopped doing whatever she was doing.

It was quiet.

Usually not a good sign.

I looked on the other side of the kitchen

and found this:

Looks comfy, huh?

I love that she dragged her pillow and monkey blanket downstairs.

I love that she put on her monkey backpack before lying down.

I love that she decided to lie down on the tile.

And I love that I had no idea she was faking until I started taking pictures.

We Are The Smoke-Free Class of 2000....

2010-04-14T22:23:00.001-06:00

My ten year high school reunion is in June. And honestly.... I can't wait! Sure, I have to lose a bunch of weight and whatever. But I'm really excited to see everyone! I have a lot of good friends that I haven't seen in years.

I was asked to be in charge of the reunion blog, so here it is! I wanted to post a link here, so that we can get the word out to everyone in our grade. Can't wait to see everyone there!

http://ghs2000.blogspot.com/

P.S. The title of this post comes from a song that our grade learned in 4th grade in Ms. Nybo's class. And all day today when I was making the blog, I couldn't get it out of my head. I don't even know any words past the first line... LOL!

My 15-Month-Old Troublemaker

2010-04-12T17:11:00.003-06:00

Emily turned 15 months old last week. What in the world? She is in desperate need of some new portraits. But for now, a blog post will have to do.

I took her to the doctor for her well check appointment. We are trying out a new pediatritian. Partly because we moved and I want to go somewhere close by. But I've thought about switching for a while now. After today, I am THRILLED with our new doctor. I think both my girls will respond well to her and she is very thorough in her exams. She really took her time to get to know me and Emily. (Thanks to Diane for watching Katie!)

At 15 months Emily is 30.75 inches tall (61%), which is amazing since at 12 months she was 31 inches tall. Hmmm... interesting. I'm feeling even more glad about my decision to switch, since I never felt like the old office was careful about taking measurements. Anyway, today she weighed in at 22.8 pounds (51%) and has a head circumference of 19 inches (96%). (What the HEED. Hopefully it means she is smart.)

Anyway, I don't have a ton of pictures from the last few months, mainly because of the big move. But the few that I do have accurately show what our lives with Emily have been like. She is a climber. And she isn't happy unless she is climing onto a stool, the ottoman, a box, etc. I've even found her standing in drawers a few times. Sometimes we will take away everything that she could possibly climb on. She will whine and fuss for a few minutes, but then will finally settle for a book or something. It doesn't make her any higher, but I guess she likes to pretend.

My little baby is now a little girl. Its very strange to see her doing so many grown up things. Here is the usual "development" list for Emily at 15 months:

- She is almost always happy. She smiles and laughs at nearly everything.
- Her hair isn't so great yet. Very very little on top and its longer in the back. I've trimmed it a few times, but there isn't much I can do.
- She absolutely refuses to wear bows, hair clips, or elastics of any kind.

- She puts up with a lot of teasing and torture from Katie.

- She loves pancakes and mac & cheese. She'll still eat her fruits and veggies when Mom remembers to prepare them.

- She sleeps well in her crib at night and for naps.

- She still drinks a bottle now and then when its time to sleep. We'll wean her soon. (sigh)

- She spends most of her days running around the living room and kitchen of the knew house.

- Either that, or she climbs the stairs over and over.

- She still loves TV and DVDs, but doesn't watch them as often as she used to.

- Still loves the car and brings her shoes to us all the time when she wants to go somewhere.

- She LOVES to be nakey and runs around saying "ticky ticky ticky" when she is only wearing a diaper.

- She can only say a couple words, but can sing the "Baba Dance Song" that James made up for Katie when we made her bottles. She rocks back and forth and sings "Ba ba booooooooo" over and over.

- She follows directions really well and will usually stop doing something when I tell her to stop.

- Her long list of nicknames has been shortened to Goose, Emmy, Toon and Pemberton.

I love this little girl so much. We just can't get enough of her! We try really hard to make sure she gets just as much attention as Katie ever did. We usually find time at night, since Katie goes to bed a couple hours earlier. She is always happy, cuddly, and loving. She isn't shy and is a little daredevil. I love watching her personality emerge and look foward to even more new things with her! We love you, Emmy!

Easter at The New House

2010-04-11T22:46:00.002-06:00

Here are the girls getting ready to go to the Orgill Family Easter Party in Grantsville. Since we weren't going to church the next day because of General Conference, I decided to dress them up in their Easter dresses for the party. Too bad they didn't look very cute.

Here is one pic of the new house. I haven't taken many since we moved in. But I'll get on that.

And, yes, we LOVE IT here!

We're In!

2010-03-30T23:29:00.000-06:00

The loan was funded exactly seven minutes before the deadline. Ummm.... yowza.

BUT WHO CARES.... WE'RE IN!

More details and pics later.

Waiting

2010-03-30T02:17:00.001-06:00

In the past week...
... both my girls have been sick.
... Our settlement deadline had to be extended AGAIN.
... We found out that James' grandma has cancer.
... We backed up the Uhaul into our landlord's house.
... I was so sick that I couldn't breathe, let alone pack.
... We found out that there is a possibility that we might not get the house.
... I had to represent both Dawn and Richard at the closing.

Right Now...
... My family is sleeping.
... I can't sleep.
... I have a million thoughts racing through my mind.
... Our entire apartment is packed up and sitting in the moving van.
... Our documents are on the way to the lender... for the second time.

In the next 24 hours...
... We have to be out of our apartment so the new tenants can move in.
... The lender will receive all the docs for the loan.
... We will either get the keys to the house and will move into THE house
... OR we will miss the settlement deadline and will be homeless.

So I am waiting. And trying to make myself go to sleep. But I'm not sure how to turn off my brain and make that happen. So while we're waiting... here's a little fun fact about the loan process:

Sometimes its possible that you can't make it to your own closing. Sometimes your spouse can't either. So what do you do? You sign over your rights using Power of Attorney so that someone can sign all the documents for you. Dawn was in California and Richard was at work down south, so I was granted permission to sign all the documents for both of them. BUT, I couldn't just sign their names. Or my name. I had to sign it exactly like this:

"Richard Edward Anderson by Sharon Anderson his attorney in fact"
AND
"Dawn Hall Anderson by Sharon Anderson her attorney in fact."

And for those of you who have bought homes before... you know that you have to sign about 200 times.
And you have to do the same thing when it asks for initials. ("REA by SA his attorney in fact.")
And you have to get it exactly right, or else they have to reprint the page so you can do it again.

My hand hurts.

Big Bully

2010-03-18T12:58:00.005-06:00

Katie was tormented by a bully yesterday.

I was in the kitchen at Alison's when I heard Katie screaming from the living room.

I ran over there to see what was going on.

Someone was sitting behind her, holding on tightly to Katie's hair with two hands.

It wasn't Emily. Emily was sleeping in the crib.

So who could it have been?

It must have been one of Alison's kids. But not just any kid.

It was... the nine month old baby.

Brooke can't really crawl yet, but somehow she had managed to get close enough to Katie to get a really good grip on her hair. I know that Katie was in pain, so for her sake I tried my hardest not to laugh. But it was seriously the funniest thing I've seen. And to make it even better were the expressions on Brooke's face while I was taking pictures after "the incident."

It was almost like she knew exactly what she did. And that she thought it was just as funny as I did.

Emily's Beach Photos

2010-03-16T13:38:00.000-06:00

After sorting through the 300+ photos that I took during Emily's first trip to the beach, I have finally narrowed it down to these. Enjoy!

I get very emotional when I look at these photos. Partly because I thought they were gone forever and I'm super grateful to Rob for recovering them. But mainly because it was a PERFECT DAY!

Thursday Thirteen #18 - Restaurant Review

2010-03-11T13:24:00.002-07:00

Thirteen of My Favorite Places to Eat

1. Pizzeria 712 - Alison took me to this fancy shmancy pizza place in Orem last night. All the ingredients are fresh from local farmers and you really can taste the difference. The hand-pulled mozzarella and fresh tomato pizza is DIVINE. So is the rizzoto appetizer and panna cotta dessert. My mouth is watering like crazy just talking about it.

2. In N Out - So after months of watching all those losers wait in line for hours to get a HAMBURGER, I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. I was immediately drawn in by the menu that only has four items on it, which I thought was super cool. The hamburgers (with a yummy sauce similar to Big Macs) and fries are way good... but I would wait in line for a fresh strawberry shake any day. Ohhhh........ yummy.

3. Sonic - This deserves to be on my list purely for the Dr. Pepper. (And I think my sister might kill me because it wasn't first on the list... even though I'm not really ranking them.) The only reason that I don't want to move out of our tiny Pleasant Grove apartment is because it is two blocks away from Sonic. And I go there often enough that I will be very bitter if the employees don't get me a birthday present. ;)

4. Shoga - For those that love sushi, you'll love this one. Its a tiny new restaurant in Orem, right next to Outback. I loved the atmosphere, loved the service and loved the Vegas roll.

5. Porter's Place - A local Lehi restuarant that has a fun old timey feel and really acts as a shrine to Porter Rockwell. We have been back several times just to get the Chicken Fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes. If you go, you have to get the Iron Port. Its a specialty drink that really just tastes like they combined about 10 sodas into one. But its yummy!

6. The Sweet Tooth Fairy - I first saw this place on Nie Nie's blog and when I noticed that it was next door to Quilted Bear, I stopped in. Bad, bad idea. Because I have now discovered yet another way to gain 20 pounds. Holy rich-frosting-that-I-would-be-happy-to-drown-in, Batman. (Get the "VaNIElla Cupcake" and they send the profits to Nie Nie!) Okay, I know this isn't a restuarant, but I'm including it because I could easily eat all my meals there.

7. Olive Garden - Oldie but a goodie. I usually get the chicken parm, but lately have been craving the Chicken con Broccoli. And I'm pretty sure that Black Tie Mousse Cake would be on my list of things to save if my house were on fire..... and if I happened to have some in my fridge.

8. Gandalfo's - My brother, Ryan, introduced this to me about ten years ago. He told me to order the New York Ranger with no tomatoes. Ten years later... and I've still never ordered anything else. I usually do the drive-thru but if you want a fun place to hang out, go to the Provo downtown location. Its in the basement of an older office building and has a cool sports bar feel.

9. Zupa's - If you haven't been here yet... then what are you waiting for? I have loved everything that I've tried, but I highly recommend the turkey cranberry panini and the salad that I invented: baby spinach, honey mustard dressing, feta cheese, cucumbers, wonton strips, and grapes. Top it off with a Crystal Light to drink and its probably the closest I'll come to actually eating healthy when eating out... except probably not.

10. Kneader's - Is there anything better than freshly baked bread? How about a freshly baked cream cheese brownie? YUM. I also LOVE their turkey cranberry croissant (yes, again) and fresh parmesan chips.

11. Thanksgiving Point Deli - Get the Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwich... which has (you guessed it!) cranberries on it!

12. Fresh Cafe (formerly known as Junkies Cafe) - Its located in the Whole Foods store in Orem. It has tons of super healthy stuff on the menu.... most of which I haven't tried. I love the nachos... homeade tortilla chips, low-fat cheese, black beans and tomatoes. Still, I think I probably found the least healthy thing on the menu. So good.

13. Happy Sumo - The best sushi. Ever. Vegas roll, California roll, Surf-n-Turf roll, etc. And I love the "Little Sumo" box that they serve to kids: chicken teriyaki, rice, and tempura veggies. Its been a favorite for the Anderson family for a long time and almost all of us choose this place for our birthday dinner. I know I will!

Del Mar Beach

2010-02-19T14:29:00.002-07:00

Gotta start with beach pictures. Sunset beach lighting is by far the best photography lighting that I have ever seen. Every single one of these photos is SOC (Straight Out of Camera) which is rare for me. I usually have some tweaking, even if its very little. But with lighting like this, its not necessary!

This was Katie and James' second trip to San Diego with the Anderson clan. (They went last spring while I stayed home with a cute new baby.) Katie had been talking about going back to the beach ever since. The whole drive to San Diego was spent with Katie asking if we were at the beach yet. So on our second day in California, we left a sleeping Emily at the beach house with Dawn and headed to the Del Mar beach just a few blocks away. We only had an hour of light left, and we were sure it would be cold on December 30.

It turned out that it would become one of our best memories ever. I stood back and took pictures of James and Katie playing in the water with a gorgeous sunset in the background. Umm.... does it get better? I think not. (Well, except for when we went back later that week for Emily's first trip to the beach. More on that in a later post.)

I am obsessed with this picture. I love everything about it. The gorgeous sunset. The outline of the tree. The people walking and riding bikes on the Del Mar boardwalk.

I LOVE THE BEACH!

Its a Miracle!

2010-02-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

Rob has done it again. He has brought my computer back to life long enough to get our vacation and Christmas photos off of it. I seriously never thought I would see them again. I cried the whole time I was looking through them. LOL.

So... now that I have about 20 blog posts to catch up on, I'm making it my goal to do one every day. I want to spread them out a little anyway. So please bear with me while I post photos that are a couple months old. And enjoy!

Monkeys On The Bed

2010-02-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

I know these posts are out of order. There is a method to my madness.... or so I would have you think. I am mainly just posting whatever I feel like posting, because I know that is the only way it will get done.

Now to tell the story about the hideousness that was the first day of our trip. I know that one day I will look back and laugh. But its been three months and I still feel anxious and overwhelemed when I think about it. First, a little background. We had planned the trip around my family's Christmas Party, so that we could have the car packed and ready to go and head out right after the party. After a blizzard forced my family to cancel the party, it already set us out on a sour note since we had postponed our trip for it. But that was just a drop in the bucket.

9:00 am - Start packing for trip.
3:00 am - Finished packing. Start getting ready for party.
4:00 pm - Party is cancelled.
5:00 pm - Car is packed. We head out.
6:00 pm - Stop in Nephi for dinner.
7:00 pm - Back on the road. Bad weather, but we push through.
8:00 pm - Girls fall asleep in the car.
11:00 pm - We arrive at our hotel in St. George.
12:00 am - Katie cries for an hour after being told that the hot tub is closed. (And Mom is mad at Dad for promising it to her all day long.)
1:00 am - Girls are still WIRED from sleeping in the car.
1:30 am - Katie falls asleep and Emily starts screaming.
2:00 am - Finally giving up, we get a second hotel room so one of us can get some sleep.
3:30 am - Emily finally goes to sleep.
9:00 am - Time that we were going to leave hotel... comes and goes.
11:00 am - Checkout time. We are finally getting back on the road.

Summing it up like that makes it not seem AS BAD. But believe me... it was not a fun way to start a vacation. I was very tempted many times to just call it quits and head home.

I think that Katie's face says it all:

Nankus Pie

2010-01-27T18:08:00.002-07:00

"Nankus Pie" is a term used often at our house.

It is in reference to the little nakey girls that are found streaking through each room before bathtime.

We strip them down and tell them to Run, Run, Run!

They giggle non-stop and try not to crash into each other.

I took a few pictures of this event.

But they won't be made public.

A cute bath photo will have to do.

Thursday Thirteen #17 - Bucket List

2010-01-21T12:48:00.003-07:00

Thirteen Things I Want To Do Before I Kick The Bucket

1. Travel to England with James and my kids (after they have grown.) James has never been and I can't wait to show him where my mom grew up. I wouldn't consider taking my kids until they are old enough to enjoy and appreciate the trip.
2. Learn to play the cello. I can play the piano and the violin. But I have always thought that cello has the most beautiful sound in the instrument community.
3. Go on a Church History tour. I've never been and have heard that its lifechanging.
4. Do temple work in the following temples: Preston England, London England, North Carolina, San Diego, Nauvoo, Washington DC and all of the Utah temples.
5. Visit New York. I want to see all the standard tourist sites. But I would also love to just stay in the city and enjoy the enviroment for a few days.
6. Spend an entire summer in a beach house. I want to do this once my kids have grown up a little more. Oh yeah, and once we can afford it.
7. Do volunteer work on a regular basis. I've always wanted to volunteer at a women's shelter and help those that need to escape bad situations.
8. Travel out of state to photograph a wedding. One day I hope to have such a successful business that people will pay for me (and my team of assistants) to fly to their wedding. I can dream, right?
9. Host a family party. I know that sounds silly (and Karen might think it sounds crazy) but one day I hope to have a house big enough to fit my entire family for an evening. If that is ever the case, I want to invite everyone over for a party. Of course, that is assuming that I can afford to hire someone to clean afterwards.
10. Participate in community theater with my children. I really really miss the days when James and I used to act, sing and play in the orchestra for our school and community theaters. I want my kids to experience that kind of fun!
11. Be a studio audience member for a TV show. How fun would it be to watch one of your favorite shows be filmed? Too bad its too late to watch Friends, Frasier or Seinfeld live.
12. Go on a shopping spree. One year for my birthday... when I've reached my goal weight and we have lots of extra money to throw away... I want to hire a personal shopper and spend hundreds of dollars on clothes for myself. (If I went right now, I'm pretty sure most of the clothes would be hoodies and yoga pants.)
13. Go on an adult only trip with my family. That would require dozens of babysitters, but I would love it so much if my entire family went on a trip together for a few days. Hopefully we would still like each other when we got back.

Two of My Favorite Things

2010-01-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

It was a balmy 40 degrees outside today.
So we bundled up and headed out to the backyard.

On my way out the door, I grabbed my camera.
They wouldn't stop posing and pulling faces...

... and just being silly-billy girls.

These are definitely my favorite things.

My Fonts

2010-01-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

I lost something when my computer crashed. Something that I didn't back up on a regular basis like I did with everything else. Something that I haven't missed until today.

My fonts. All 240 of them. Why, oh why, didn't I back them up? Wahhhh.....

My Little Princess

2010-01-18T01:25:00.000-07:00

My little Katie (who won't stop wearing Emmy's birthday hat) is such a sweetheart. Sometimes I think she is a little TOO sensitive, but I mostly just try to enjoy her.

Today she was watching Cinderella, which has become one of her new favorite movies. Except for one particular scene. She hates the part when the ugly stepsisters tear her dress apart so she can't go to the ball. She will usually talk to me about it and tell me how mean they are being.

But this time, she came running over to me sobbing. I couldn't figure out what was wrong at first. Finally I figured out that it was because of the movie. I asked her about it and she said, "Those mean girls are tearing her shirt and now Cinderella is sad." I sat down with her and watched the rest of the movie, explaining how Cinderella had help to be happy again. She was satisfied with that and hopefully isn't scarred for life.

I love this little girl. Even with all her sensitive, over-reacting, melodramatic little ways. I love that she cares so much. And I hope it doesn't stop any time soon.

FREAK OUT Friday

2010-01-15T08:05:00.001-07:00

James is taking two classes this semester.

So James needed two books.

Two.

James went to buy the books yesterday.

I asked him how much they cost.

He replied, "$250."

I laughed.

He showed me the receipt.

Ummm......... what?

1 New Book + 1 Used Book = $250.

Hence my Freak Out Friday.

What I Meant To Say Wednesday

2010-01-13T19:17:00.001-07:00

I stole this post idea from my friend, Rikke. (You are my friend now, not just my sister's friend, right Rikke? LOL!) Anyway, loved the idea so much that I knew I wanted to start using it. Here goes.

To my husband who was up until 3:00 am playing World of Warcraft every night this week, even though he had to work at 9:00...
I said: "Please go to bed soon so you aren't tired tomorrow."
What I meant to say was: "You will get nothing but a big, fat 'TOO BAD' from me if you complain about being tired tomorrow."

To my three year old who won't listen to me or do what I ask and won't leave her sister alone...
I said: "Katie, please be a nice girl and listen to Mommy."
What I meant to say was: "If you don't start doing exactly what I tell you to do exactly when I tell you to do it, I am checking into a hotel and leaving you with your dad who is too tired to function."

To the middle eastern guy who manages the gas station down the street and always says, "Thank you come again" in his very Apu-from-The-Simpsons-like manner.....
I said: "Thanks!"
What I meant to say was: "HA HA HA HA HA."

To my baby who suddenly decided that she doesn't need to sleep more than three hours at a time...
I said: "Its time for night-night, sweetie. But I'll rock you as long as you need me to, since you aren't feeling good."
What I meant to say was: (quietly sobbing to myself) "I love being a mom.... I love being a mom... I love being a mom...."

To a vast majority of Facebook users that have 'friend-ed' me.... (not you, of course)....
I said: (Nothing, cause I don't talk to the computer out loud when I'm by myself.)
What I meant to say was: "Man, I am friends with a lot of really whiny people that don't have basic grammar skills."

To my very good-looking pediatrician during Emily's 12-month well-check appointment....
I said: "Thanks for your help!"
What I meant to say was: "So... what are you doing Friday night?"

Blue Screen of Death

2010-01-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

So... my computer is fried. Not just your normal crash.  I've seen the blue screen of death before. But never without finding some sort of resolution.  I'm pretty sure it is dead and we won't ever see it again.

The good news is I backed it up a couple weeks ago. So I have mostly everything saved.

The bad news is....... I'm pretty sure that all of our Christmas and vacation photos have died along with my computer. I might have to take my tower to my bro-in-law, Rob, who has performed miracles before. But I'm trying not to get my hopes up. (And I'm also trying not to wrap my mind around the fact that I now only have two photos of Emily's first trip to the beach.)

The other good news is that Rob also managed to get me a great deal on a "used" laptop from his office. So hopefully I won't have to borrow James' for long.

So please excuse me from my blog for a bit. I'll try to keep updating now and then, but it might be a while before you see any photos.

I've had my computer since Katie was a baby and it has endured three hard years of photography, scrapbooking, gaming and blogging abuse.   Please join me in my mourning.

Happy 1st Birthday, Emily!

2010-01-08T21:35:00.001-07:00

Emily's first birthday was such a fun day for our family! James had the day off, so we were able to spend most of the day hanging out at home. We spent the afternoon at Build-A-Bear (more on that later) and then had cake and dinner (in that order) with James' parents. A super fun day!

Here is her current list of accomplishments:

- She finally started drinking from bottles about a month ago. Late to start, but we were THRILLED. It makes going out much much easier.

- She has four teeth. Two on top, two on bottom. And she likes to bite everything.

- She loves most of the foods that we put in front of her. She especially likes cheese, bread, pancakes, and pretzels.

- She likes licking everything more than she likes biting everything. Seriously. She licks the fridge, the chairs, the couch, the TV, and anything else in her reach. YUCK.

- She loves Baby Einstein and when mom puts in a new one, she will sit and watch the entire thing from beginning to end. (Wonderful when Mom needs to shower.)

- She loves her sister more than anyone in the world and will follow her around all day long.

- She loves to steal passies from her baby cousin, Brooke.

- Her nicknames have expanded from the nine month list and now include: Goose, Woofington, Pemberbrose, Pembertoon, Toony Girl and Tiny Toon.

- She walks and runs all over the place. Way too fast for Mommy.

- She would climb stairs all day long, even though she isn't very good at it and falls often.

- Most of the time she will sleep through the night, but will occasionally get up at 3:00 am and decide that its time to play!

- She follows simple directions and will bring things to me when I hold out my hand.

Emily has got to be one of the sweetest babies I have ever known. She really is super happy most of the time. We love her more than we could express. I can't believe she has been in our family for a year now. It has flown by, yet I can't imagine life without her. She makes our family a very happy one.

We love you, Emily! Happy Birthday, Goosey!

Thursday Thirteen #16 - Emily's First Year

2010-01-07T22:00:00.005-07:00

Thirteen of My Favorite Photos From Emily's First Year

Happy Birthday to my baby girl. We love you SO much.

(On a side note, I am saving holiday and beach photos until after all the birthday hoopla is over. Prepare yourself for blog vomit in a couple weeks.)

Creepy Weirdos

2010-01-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

We had quite a nerve-wracking afternoon here in Del Mar yesterday.

The doorbell rang. I went to answer it and looked through the window before unlocking the door. There was a short man on the doorstep, wearing all denim and a baseball cap. He asked me (through the window) if he could ask me some questions about the empty lot next door.

I immediately got an uneasy feeling and just told him that we didn't live there so I couldn't answer any questions about the area. Again, he asked me to come outside and look at the lot he was talking about.

I just told him no and said that I was going to get my husband. He looked extremely annoyed and said, "I don't bite!"

So I went upstairs and told James. He said to just wait and let him go away. We waited a few minutes. But then the doorbell rang again and he started knocking. So James went down to talk to him. The man did ask a couple questions about the property, but mainly talked about how rude I was for not opening the door and kept asking James how long we would be staying there. Eeek.

So James came back up and said that something was not right. We could plainly see this guys car from our kitchen window, so we took pictures of it and the license plate. We were debating on how to handle the situation when, after a few minutes, the house alarm went off. EEEEEEKKK!! James ran downstairs, but there was no one around.

I called the non-emergency dispatch and described the situation. Within minutes, two sheriff deputies showed up on our front porch. By that time, the car was gone and we have no idea where he went. They told us that they would drive around and look for the car and to call them if anything else happened.

So........... needless to say... we did NOT sleep last night. We kept all the lights on in the house and both TV's. James was constantly walking around checking doors and windows all night. I finally fell asleep around 2:30 am, knowing that I would have to be up with the girls. And when we woke up at 8:00 am, we came to the living room to find that James hadn't slept a wink. Poor guy! But I will admit that I was relieved to know that he was watching out for us. He immediately walked to the bedroom and collapsed. So much for going to the zoo today! LOL!

I'm not as worried today, because I think this guy heard the house alarm and saw the police. So I doubt that he would try anything at this point. But I think we will both be on our guard until we leave on Monday! I guess it will make this trip memorable!

Adios 2009

2010-01-01T01:35:00.001-07:00

January
We welcome Emily to the world.
Adjust to life with a toddler and a newborn.
Grandma Lisenbee passes away.

February
Lots of visits with family.
Potty training.
Emily starts crying a lot.
Not much sleep.

March
Katie gives up pacifiers.
Move to Diane's basement.
James & Katie go to San Diego.
Mom & Emily enjoy time alone at home.
Emily's blessing day with her cousin, Mya.

April
Orgill Easter Party.
Emily gets attached to her blankie.
Katie has a fever for a week.
Emily gets croup.

May
Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point
I turn 27. Yippee.
Mother's Day Spa Day with my sisters.
Baby Brooke is born.
Stay-cation in Salt Lake City.

June
Emily starts solid foods.
Lots of swimming.
Lots of staying indoors to stay cool.
Met Grandpa Don and Grandma Carmen.
James' turns 26.

July
Celebrate the 4th in Grantsville.
Fireworks in Levan.
House-sit for Karen & Jim.
Lots more swimming for Katie.
Katie turns three years old!

August
SYTYCD Party.
Brooke's blessing.
Megan & Audrey's baptism.
Tons of family, food and fun.
Started watching Brooke at Alison's house.

September
Emily starts crawling.
Started house hunting.
House-sit for Alison & Rob.
Lots of walking at Thanksgiving Point.
Celebrate four years of marriage.

October
Ryan & Stefanie's portraits.
Erin & Phil's portraits.
Katie & Emily's portraits.
Katie doesn't want to be a pirate.
Halloween with a cute bunny and witch.

November
Grandma Simmonds passes away.
Diane's boys' portraits.
Thanksgiving in Grantsville & Levan.
Basil & Kristen move back home!
Anderson grandchild #5 is on his/her way! (Congrats guys!)

December
Emily learns to walk.
Emily FINALLY starts taking bottles.
Lots of anticipation for Christmas.
Santa visits Katie & Emily.
We head to San Diego for New Year's with James' parents.

Its been a fantastic year! On to the next!

Nativity

2009-12-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Anderson Christmas Party. More pics and details about that fun night later. But I wanted to share a photo of my new Nativity set. Basil & Kristen spent a month in Peru this year and handed out their gifts at the party. I am in love with the set that they gave us! I was thrilled to receive such a special gift from them and will look forward to displaying it every year.

I can't even describe how much I love the llama.

Christmas Card Photos

2009-12-20T18:06:00.001-07:00

Some days, my world tends to revolve around how cute little girl clothes are. Today was one of those days.

My sister, Karen, is amazingly generous with letting me use clothes that her girls used to wear. And because her girls are the same distance apart in age as mine, I get to use a lot of darling matching outfits. This morning, I was trying to decide what to have the girls wear to church and saw these Christmas dresses. Ummmm.... what? How did I forget about them? And.... COULD YOU JUST DIE?

So the first thing I did when we got home was fire up my camera (using my AWESOME new lens from Alison) to take some portraits.

And they turned out so dang cute that I decided to make a Christmas card, even though I had decided not to do that this year. Maybe it won't make it as further than my blog header, but I still get credit for making one! Enjoy!

A Boy and A Girl

2009-12-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

I was searching through all my old photos today and wanted to do some catch up. I have NO idea why I never posted these pictures. I think I wanted to save them for a special day or something... but then forgot all about them.

My nephew, Trevor, is such a sweetheart with my girls. He is always willing to help when he comes to stay and loves to sit and play with them. In this picture (taken June 9, 2009), Emily was just five months old. Trevor would always come lie on my bed with her and try to make her smile. Love it.

Flower Girl

2009-12-19T12:27:00.006-07:00

About a month ago, I went grocery shopping and left Katie with Alison. She did Katie's hair and took this photo of her. Gorgeous.

Yowchie

2009-12-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of examples of what Emily has endured while learning to walk. That goose egg appeared about five seconds after hitting her head on the coffee table. Yowchie.

Best Mom Moment

2009-12-18T11:33:00.002-07:00

I was cleaning the kitchen. The girls were just wandering around playing. Then I could hear Katie talking to Emily. So I stopped to listen.

They were sitting in the middle of the living room floor...
Right next to each other...
Katie was reading a book to her...
Pointing at all the pictures...
And using the voices that James uses.

I called James at work and let him listen to it over speaker phone.

And now... I am crying (and wouldn't be surprised if James is, too.) Best Mom moment ever.

Blogicus Resumicus

2009-12-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

If you scroll down, you will see that I have updated my blog FINALLY. There are five or six new/old posts. Enjoy!

Thursday Thirteen #15 - Computus Crashicus

2009-12-03T16:37:00.005-07:00

Thirteen Reasons I Haven't Blogged In Weeks

1-13. My computer keeps crashing.

Anderson Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

My wonderful in-laws have humbly accepted the fact that their two daughters-in-law come from big families that have well-established holiday traditions. So they have agreed that the Andersons will start their own Thanksgiving tradition, by having dinner on the following Sunday every year. That way, we will be able to meet with both families every year! Aren't they the best?!

Dinner was delicious, thanks to Dawn. And Katie had a blast playing on the new playset out in the backyard. But the best part of Thanksgiving Sunday was that three of our favorite people were there:

Basil, Kristen and Rhoda have moved back to Utah! Yahoo! Its about time! We hadn't seen them since last Christmas, which just happened to be two weeks before Emily was born. So this was their first time seeing her! We are so thankful to have them back close by!

Orgill Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T22:47:00.003-07:00

Our Thanksgiving was in Grantsville again this year. Because it was the "on" year for most of our family, my mom decided to reserve the cultural hall at the nearest church so that we could fit our enormous family altogether at once. It was a great idea, even if the heater wasn't on! (My girls are with their cousins, Skyler & Trevor, in the photo. I like to pretend that they are really part of my own family, so I had to get a picture of all "my" kids together.)

May I just say that my sister, Karen, is the most amazing person on this earth? I mean... seriously. I had heard that she wasn't coming to dinner because her youngest daughter had H1N1. But I knew that Karen wouldn't let that stop her from being the hostess with the mostess anyway. And even with that expectation, she completely outdid herself.

Here is one of the darling placecards that Karen made that was just a tiny part of the gorgeous decorations that she put out for everyone to enjoy. She not only decorated and helped with the food, but she brought a truckload of her own toys and set them up in one of the classrooms for all of the cousins to play with. She even set up a toy train for the youngest cousins to take turns riding on. AND she did all of this knowing full well that she wouldn't even be going to dinner herself. Ummm.... yes. I would say that she is amazing and this Thanksgiving, we were all feeling truly grateful to have her as a part of our family.

The entire day was so fun. We loved spending so much time with family and watching all the kids run around the gym together. I love my family. And I'm so glad that my husband and girls love my family.

Here are two pictures that are quite possibly my favorites from the day:

Here is Emily being smothered by three very cute preschoolers.

Here is how Emily really felt about being smothered by three very cute preschoolers.

LOL! Love the expression!

For those of you that want to see more of this very fun day, click below to see the photo slideshow. Just to warn you... I am pretty sure that I took more pictures of baby Brooke than I did of my own girlies. :)

Thanksgiving 2009

Silly Girl

2009-11-26T22:46:00.001-07:00

My baby is cuter than your baby.

Three Amigos

2009-11-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

It seems like our trips to Grantsville are few and far between these days. But Katie is beyond thrilled when we do make it out there because it usually means that she gets to play with several of her cousins at once. On this particular day, she was lucky enough to find out that both Afton & Regan were at Grandma Orgill's house when we got there! They might not always get along, but they sure have a blast when they do!

Its A Party On My Table

2009-11-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share another funny thing that Katie did one day. She was playing nicely by herself, when I noticed that she was lining up all her little stuffed toys on the coffee table. I asked her what she was up to and she said, "They are having a party." LOL!

Little Mommy

2009-11-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

Katie was feeling sick this week. After a few days of being housebound, I decided to take her to the dollar store to pick out a toy. She immediately chose a baby doll and wouldn't even consider anything else. I love it when she knows what she wants.

That night, I got her ready for bed and then needed to help Emily with something. When I got back to Katie's room, she was lying in bed and "feeding" her baby. She just smiled at me when I walked in, without saying a word. What a sweetie!

Chatwin Boys - Fall Portraits '09

2009-11-11T16:28:00.001-07:00

My sister, Diane, has four awesome boys. We just spent seven months living in their basement, which gave me a great opportunity to get to know each of them well. I love these boys! Diane has been wanting portraits at this location in Lehi for a long time and I'm so glad that we were able to get it done!

Luke, almost 4 years old (& Katie's best friend)

Seth, 8 years old

Caleb, almost 11 years old

Nathan, 12 years old (going on 18)

Good-bye Grandma

2009-11-09T22:32:00.001-07:00

I wanted to take some time to post some pictures of my Grandma Simmonds today. These were taken during my last trip to England in July 2003. Looking at them makes me miss her so much. It is very hard to know that the next time I visit, she won't be there.

My grandma loved playing the piano. Each of the girls in my family have played duets with Grandma at some point in our lives, and I love remembering how she didn't shy away from telling us when we needed to practice. (i.e. "You're murdering it!") A couple of us girls were lucky enough play duets with her on this very piano. She spent a lot of time in her sitting room and I'm so glad that I have pictures of it.

This photo has Grandma written all over it. She loved to walk to the shops in town and buy whatever little knick-knacks she found. Teacups, bells, stuffed animals and many other little things were displayed at all times.

During my trip, I was able to go visit the home where my Grandma grew up in Bollington. Here she is in front of her home with my mom, Aunt Viv and Uncle Paul. It was such a neat experience. Her mind had started to fade a bit at this point in her life, but she remembered a lot about her life there.

This gorgeous view of Bollington was taken from my Grandma's old garden.

My mom and her mom.

We love you, Grandma, and will miss you always.

Grandma Simmonds

2009-11-09T11:06:00.003-07:00

My Grandma Simmonds passed away this morning. I will post more later, when I get home. But I wanted to take a minute to share this video. My sister, Susan, captured this amazing moment during her visit to England in 2007. After several years of suffering from dementia, my Grandma thrilled everyone by playing the piano for them... from memory.

We love you, Grandma.

Sea & Space

2009-11-08T00:44:00.001-07:00

We were sitting around on Friday night, trying to decide what to do with ourselves, when we got an unexpected phone call from my brother and his family. They were heading into The Gateway to visit the Planetarium and invited us to go. We packed up the girls and headed out within the hour!

Katie and Afton are just six months apart in age and have grown to be such good friends. When they saw each other across the planetarium lobby, they ran to each other, hugged and walked off holding hands. LOL! We spent some time walking around the exhibits, but also took in a 3D movie ("Under the Sea"), dinner at the food court and shopping at Barnes & Noble. What a fun night! Thanks, Ryan & Stef!

The girls (and James) spent a lot of time at this.... marble maze thing.
Not exactly sure what it was. LOL!

Mya smiled every time I held up the camera.
Seriously, I have a dozen photos of her identical to this one.

Despite Emily's battered look (cuts and bruises are from mastering her walking technique), she was a good girl and seemed to have a great time with her cousins!

Getting ready for "Under the Sea: 3-D" to start. Notice the "COOOOOL" glasses and the holding hands. Too cute!

The Extraordinarily Sorrowful-Looking Bunny Girls

2009-11-06T14:03:00.002-07:00

One day I was browsing all the handmade items on http://www.etsy.com/ when I came across the green bunny above. Made by a woman in Hungary, she called it the "Extraordinarily Green Sorrowful-Looking Bunny Girl." I'm not really sure why, but I HAD to have it. We ordered it immediately and it quickly became Katie's security item.

We loved the green bunny so much, that we knew we needed another one for Emmy. So I emailed my new Hungarian friend and asked her if she could make another one in another color. And a couple weeks later, the mauve bunny arrived.

I love these bunnies. I love that they are handmade. I love that no one else has anything like them. And I love how much my girls love them.

Thank you, Melitta! We will always treasure our new bunny friends!

Mary Had a Little Pirate

2009-11-02T20:54:00.002-07:00

We love making up songs in our house. Daddy is the best at this game but Mommy tries, too. I just had to share the song that Katie and I made up together tonight.

After a fun "date" at the movies, Katie was asking me to sing for her on the way home. So I started doing what I usually do, which is change the words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." I usually start with "Katie is a Cutie Girl" and see where that takes me.

By the time we were almost home, we started using the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and it had evolved into this hilarious exchange:

Mom:
(to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")
"Do you want to be a pirate?
Be a pirate?
Be a pirate...?"

Katie:
(finishing the song for me)
"I don't want to be a pirate...
I want to be a witch!"

I think I laughed for about five minutes straight.

Orgill Halloween Party 2009

2009-10-31T23:30:00.001-06:00

My sister, Karen, is truly amazing and wonderful. Every year, she manages to put together party after party and make them all super fun! Thank you so much, Karen!

I took 437 photos at the party. So be grateful that I narrowed it down to these thirteen for my blog. Enjoy!

Halloween is getting more and more fun every year with my girls!

My very own stuffed bunny. James didn't ever want to take her out of this costume. You couldn't help but want to give her a squeeze!

Here are the Orgill grandkids that were able to attend this year. (We missed Trevor, Arthur, Audrey, Koby and Kayson!)

Katie and Luke have missed each other SO much since we moved out of Diane's basement. They were hugging all day long. Too cute!

There are no words. I want to reach into the picture and pinch those cheeks.

Again, no words. Yes, that is Karen and Jim. And yes, we are all aware of Karen's shocking resemblence to Grandma B.

Regan, Afton, Katie and Luke

The younger generation of grandkids.

Mya, Emily and Brooke

(I don't blame Mya for being terrified.)

My dad is the coolest. Only he could turn an Orgill family inside joke into a costume!

Lined up by age and getting ready for the "parade."

Katie was anxious to show off her loot to Daddy, Emily and Skyler.

Both of my girls got some super fun "treats" from their aunts and uncles! Thanks everyone!

Katie finished off her fun day by trick-or-treating with Megan, Lauren and Regan. I love this picture and decided to try some cool effects on it. I love Katie's witchy silhouette.

Happy Halloween!